fairytailfanonfandomcom-20200222-history
Battle Meditation
Battle Meditation (戦闘瞑想, Sentō Meisō)is one among a series of techniques developed in the Han Empire for the use of its high ranking officers, as well as one of the basic fighting tenants used in the numerous martial arts schools established there. Battle meditation functions as a supplementary skill adopted by fighters who focus on the manipulative and mental aspects of fighting rather than physical nature of it, enabling the practitioner to draw out their innermost focus to the surface, meditating to go beyond the mind and experience one’s own essential nature, allowing them to harmonize with their own fighting abilities at a much deeper level. Transforming and improving upon traditional meditation skills, this iteration was designed to improve the practitioner's ability to concentrate and redirect their energy toward strengthening their will and overall spiritual power, achieving tremendous feats through in-depth control and discipline via mastery of the mind even amidst the harshest of times, with the end result being the attainment of personal enlightenment that is accompanied with tranquility and serenity. Description Based off simple zen meditation, with a few alterations made on the result achieved after practice, Battle Meditation can be accessed in several ways, with the most common being that the practitioner use a certain posture to focus with and concentrate on liberating their mind from any sort of distractions, calm their heart and then focus their sense outward, typically on the sound of their own breathing. The goal of this skill is for the user to enter a deep focus that deprives them of all emotions and feelings they have, attaining a mental state that balances them between the tip of tranquility and the edge of hostility. In this state of mind, the practitioner attains a heightened degree of focus on whatever they are doing or going to do, finding their center inside themselves that deprives them of their ability to lose concentration from outdoor distractions. In these conditions, the meditator’s sense become enhanced toward reading their surroundings, facilitating their ability to sense others nearby and whatever else is around them. One of the biggest reason as to why fighters practice it is mainly due to the unique sense of hyper cognition they place themselves, requiring them to use very little concentration or thought into using certain attacks, techniques, or maneuvers that would in normal instances require a great deal of effort and attentiveness to initiate, throwing the thought process out the window and enabling them to recite it based on purely on instinct and muscle memory. With a relaxed body and mind, the practitioner becomes more equipped to focus on techniques with less distractions. Maintaining this relaxed state of mind also promotes them to react faster and be more efficient with their energy—as the mind calms, the body relaxes. With such a high level of mental, rather than physical, conscious control over their own body, it saves them the trouble of having to exert too much energy into over thinking their next move and reduces the stress and exhaustion they would feel. This hands over to the meditator a better sense of control over their abilities without suffering the negative exertion they would feel in full effect. Interestingly, this skill can be applied toward the concept of magic that a wizard can summon at a given time, typically when said individual operates or trains their mind to forcibly induce a mode of consciousness that draws out more energy than what could be done consciously. With further practice in meditation, the internal effort to self-regulate the mind becomes significantly easier to use in both speed and duration, meaning that a wizard who is sufficiently adept in its use can train their mental/spiritual stamina toward sustaining their magic energy for longer periods of times during spell casting. However, its greatest application is found in the hands of martial artists, with the full effectiveness of Battle Meditation revealing itself more pronounced to those that apply its power toward the mind and spirit rather than actual magic. With their intentions being the focal point of their training, their mental focus is reinforced through through every meditation, continually being improved, as well as their capacity to learn martial arts at an increased speed. When mastered by those who have discipline themselves under its teachings, they gain not only mastery over their state of mind, but a number of factors associated to it. In this sense, at its highest peak of practice, employed meditation draws itself toward sharpening their mind in the attempts to quickly speed up the recovery of their stamina, while also healing their wounds, reinvigorating their exhausted body and overall battle prowess of an individual, simultaneously reducing the erosion of their combat-effectiveness over a period of time. It is through this practice that the user will their body to obey the mind, moving through sheer force of will rather than through power, always placing mind over matter as its first intention. More than simply just a technique for use, Battle Meditation has served as a type of concept adopted by numerous practitioners who understand its true meaning. With continued practice, the scope of energy they can conjure during their actions become elevated when focusing on defense or control, expressing a value toward conveying peace over violence by meditating, breathing, and sounding out mantras to enter a state of near perfect calm. This also applies to spiritual or magical power in users who possess such abilities. In the hands of people who have practiced it in the span of years and have grasped its fundamental concept, the simple act of meditating unlocks the full potential of the brain, giving practitioners near supernatural skills, such as levitation to name a few. As an ability that contradicts its brotherly counterpart, Budō Mai, in which it focuses on the raw emotion of its user, this art is spiritual in concept, and has been known to develop longevity in some users by extending their life by several years through continues practice, ultimately teaching them to harness human potential. Techniques *'Kizen' (心気禅, Kizen; lit. “Spirit Meditation”): An advanced application of meditation used by season practitioners in battle with an in-depth understanding in its use, allows the user to immediately enter their meditative state in quick bursts rather than rather than doing so the traditional way via slowly building up to it, making it more easily accessible to attain in the heat of battle by leaving the caster less exposed. Often activated by the mediator by striking some type of form for them to focus with (clasped hands, closed eyes), inducing an intense state of focus. While in this state of deep attentiveness, the user is thrown into a state of relaxation and tranquility, dramatically reducing the stress and fatigue required in certain actions, such as techniques requiring them to build internal energy or life force (Qi, magic, etc.). A particularly ambitious technique of Battle Meditation, Kizen aims at effortlessly sustaining a single-pointed focus meant to enable its practitioner to use an indestructible sense of unbroken-concentration while engaging in any activity, including battle. However, in this case, it is applied toward drawing out greater reserves of energy stored inside their bodies than that they would normally be unable to unlock through conventional means, serving as a method to recover all manner of energy when the one expends to much of an amount. The in-depth mediation is used to stimulate their ability call upon extra reserves that would normally be present in times of extreme stress or during an intense battle, replenishing to a tremendous extent whatever sort of source of power the user is currently using (i.e. magic, curse power, Qi, etc.), recharging them to optimal condition. During prolonged use, the total effectiveness of the technique becomes drastically reduced the more times it is used, primarily due to the practitioner rapidly draining away at the energy that would normally be used at higher levels or in drawn-out fights, requiring them to meditate for longer periods of time in order to receive the same benefits in the long-term. *'Geichu Dama' (芸中黙, Geichū Dama; lit. “Art of Silence”): Rather than produce any sort of mental effort on their part to produce a focus for them to exert their powers to, the practitioner instead meditates on achieving great inner peace by eliminating everything that is hindering that goal in mind, such as stress, tension, anxiety, and any sort of negative state of mind they find themselves in. After performing it, the user’s consciousness is altered to reflect the quiet ambience inside their mind, becoming detached from any sort of emotion or response to better handle themselves without becoming to emotional in their endeavors. By learning to grasp their internal effort to self-regulate their mind, the user can clear it from all manner of debilitating conditions that would hold them back, such as fear, anger, lust, anxiety, etc., as a form of mind-training. It then serves as a natural method to deal with any physical or mental occurrences that would distract the practitioner from utilizing Battle Meditation, commonly in the form of debilitations found in pain and hunger, to name a few. This in turn disciplines their minds from wandering or focusing on anything that would distract them, conveying the utmost command in keeping themselves in control and free from the domination of others. This characteristic can be referred to as mental silence, which is regarded as a meditation that involves 'switching off' certain aspects of the mind that the meditator deems “unnecesary”. In this state of mind, they are less likely to be influenced by others, opting to become a blank slate devoid of any sort of content that fights purely on instinct alone via the Sixth Sense. Rather difficult to use, only seasoned practitioners of Battle Meditation have been known to utilize this technique for long periods of time, with novices lacking the fortitude to simply “stop thinking” in battle. *'Shoten' (省点, Shō Ten; lit. "Focus Point"): An extremely advanced technique that, in retrospect to previous applications, requires the user to apply over 100% of their concentration into a single action rather than distributing it across a variety of separate abilities by diluting its power, doing so with the intention of making their next action tremendously more powerful. By containing the sole focus of their attention and measure of power for a singular purpose and thought, the user makes up for this act by redirecting all their efforts and mental strength into a focal point for them to exert their power toward an accomplishing a single “intention”, significantly increasing that intentions capabilities and chance for success to occur, making it easier to accomplish by absolutely drawing out the maximum effort of its caster unto it. This is achieved due to the nature of the technique increasing a number of factors physical and/or mental capabilities to their maximum potential; obstacles become minor problems while objectives grow significantly easier to accomplish. Using a combination of the Kizen (“Spirit Mediation”) and Geichu Dama (“Silent Mind”) techniques, a persona is said to draw out the capacity of concentration far above their maximum levels, setting them up in preparation of their next action. This in turn prepares them in a number of different categories relating to their natural skills and talents, allowing them to do better in whatever endeavor they have in mind by a large percent with the addition of brushing off any distractions, which makes achieving things much easier. In terms of application, Shoten can be applied in a number of ways, from increasing the intensity of an emotion, the intention of an action, the impression of a thought, or the belief behind something occurring, it is in its purest form a method for the practitioner to visualize and verbalize an action, literally “do whatever you set your mind to”. *'Mantora Inori' (マントラ祈, Man Tora Inori; lit. "Mantra Prayer"): Single Handedly one of the more advanced technique one is able to learn, it is activated by taking on a type pose that they feel most comfortable in, then beginning to utter series of words or noises that form a personal mantra for them to center themselves to, speaking out in pure calmness a sacred utterance, a numinous sound, a syllable, word, or group of words with the intention of having an incredibly deep psychological impact. Mantra meditation helps to induce an altered state of consciousness. By this logic, it is regarded as one of the fastest methods of setting themselves in pensive mindset that acts as a type sacred formula, or a deeply personal ritual that some take in order to instigate a specific way of thinking. When translating to a form of combat, speaking out a mantra with the level of focus and power that Battle Meditation applies increases the feeling and thoughts behind these utterances hundreds of times, materializing their meaning outward by having an actual impact on people or their surroundings. Defined as a formulae of different thoughts put together to create a meaning behind them, they serve as the basis for the speaker to formulate some kind of spell or weapon of supernatural power depending on who is speaking them. By meditating on and empowering them by constantly reciting, muttering or singing them collected in a methodical fashion, they create a powerful mantra that verbalizes something in one’s mind, often repeated and expressed in conjunction with a particularly strong belief. One of the most basic uses is to simply speak a certain type of word or personal prayer and materialize a thought of feeling associated with it, such as feelings of love or peace in this manner, affect those around the speaker, being powerful enough to sway them into being less likely to attack and more keen on seeking compromise instead. When aimed more toward violence, the powerful sway it can have can be more effective due to the focus one would normally place toward harming others, especially enemies. When speaking mantras tasked more on the ill-beings of others, these utterances can drastically amplify the hostility they have by leaving a much greater impact akin to a curse or attack. In most cases when a mantra is spoken aloud, it will take on the shape or form to whatever most closely associates with it, i.e. peace and flowers, water and serenity, skulls and death, etc. *'Saigo-Ho' (最終歩, Saigo Ho ; lit. "The Last Step"): Considered as one of the highest applications of Battle Meditation one is able to achieve, Saigo-Ho is a technique used during extreme cases when the practitioner's body has suffered too much damage or is immobilized beyond their control, they apply the use of willpower and mental control to maneuver their body in the same manner as that of a puppet. A more combat-oriented ability designed to push the user past their physical limitations in order to continue fighting even after suffering fatal injuries, it is a technique that works as a mental method of manipulating one’s own body into continuing to move despite being unable to do so naturally, manifesting the ability to keep functioning based on their sense of drive and strength. Due to its exhaustive nature and extremely taxing effect on both the mental and physical aspects of the user, it is a last resort technique reserved for use by highest level practitioners who possess the dexterity and experience to use it properly; achieved by commanding oneself to act past one’s own natural boundaries, becoming stronger the closer they are to death, enabling them to move freely despite having entire limbs severely damaged, suffering from a type of physical paralysis, broken bones, or any other force which would impede normal movement. The extent of control extends to a number of factors that associate with physical motion, such as the functioning of one’s muscles, bones, tendons, and veins to help support themselves by ignoring the any impairments currently present. Additionally, since this is accomplished on a subconscious level by inducing a meditative state of deep focus, they can push themselves even further beyond their normal parameters without having to suffer the consequences for these actions, translating to them fighting at faster rate, with more strength, and for longer periods of time than what would be considered to be inside the safety margin. In this state, the user can continue functioning, with the added benefit of having all sense of pain numbed and physical abilities raised to resist the control of others. Trivia Category:Martial Art Category:Technique Category:Techniques Category:Abilities Category:Han Empire